This invention relates to the field of items that are held by users and have handles for gripping, such as sports equipment and tools, and more particularly, to a baseball bat handle grip.
Baseball bats are as old as the game itself. In fact, other than possible dimensions and/or weights of bats over the years, the baseball bat has probably not changed much since the first bat used when the game was invented; at least when considering wooden baseball bats, as opposed to the newer metal baseball bats.
It has always been the case for the newer metal baseball bats that they have some type of grip element applied to the handle portion of the bat to allow for better hand gripping of the smooth and slippery metal surface of the handle of the bat, and also to help reduce the shock/impact effect of the ball hitting the bat on the user's hands. In most instances, the gripping elements applied to metal bats have consisted of some type of a rubber or possibly even leather cover that is applied at least over the handle of the bat, and in many instances also over the knob at the end of the bat. These gripping covers usually have a “cushy” feel to them, which allows for better gripping and also cushioning of the user's hands.
To the contrary, however, there has been very little, if anything, done regarding the handles of wooden bats over the history of baseball. While we all remember at one point purchasing a wooden bat when we were kids which had a strip of cloth wrapped around the handle portion of the bat, this is the extent to which “permanent” gripping elements have been applied to wooden bats. Non-permanent gripping elements such as pine tar is often rubbed onto the handle of the bat by a baseball player just prior to the player taking his position at home plate to bat. Players also use batting gloves as a means of having a better grip on a bat and cushioning the blow of the ball against the bat.
Accordingly, while the manners of gripping a metal bat have advanced, and are readily seen on metal bats today in the form of rubberized covers applied to the handle area of the bat, none of the prior art regarding the application of similar type coverings to wooden handled bats has had much success in the market place. Examples are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,481, issued on Mar. 18, 1969 to Tanguay, entitled Baseball Bat Wrappings, is directed to a manner of reinforcing a handle of a wooden baseball bat through the use of wrappings. While an additional gripping advantage is also achieved in the '481 patent, the manner of the gripping element is distinctly different from that of the subject invention. In the two embodiments covered in the '481 patent, the handle of the bat is wrapped with two layers of wrapping material prior to application of the layer containing the gripping elements. In the first embodiment of the '481 patent, two pressure sensitive tapes reinforced with high tensile strands are wrapped side by side on the upper portion of the bat handle and then one of the tapes is extended down to the knob while the other tape is then continued after a layer of the gripping material is applied, so that the gripping material is applied over the first taping and then is intermittently overlapped by the second tape, which is then continued down to the knob area of the bat. In the second embodiment of the '481 patent, a layer of neoprene is applied over the handle of the bat and then a tape layer is overlappingly wound around the bat handle, covering the neoprene layer. It is only after the tape is applied over the neoprene layer that the gripping layer is applied on top of the tape. Accordingly, it is seen that for a wooden bat, the '481 patent does not teach that a gripping material as described in that patent can be applied directly onto the handle of the wooden bat, but must instead be applied over at least one pre-applied tape element in order for it to achieve the results of the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,293,949, issued Feb. 11, 1919 to Sellars, entitled Coating Material for Handles of Sporting and Trade Implements and Method of Applying Same, is directed to the application of such a coating material to either a wood or a metal surface. However, in the case of the '949 patent, the coating materials being applied are combinations of gutta percha and balata. As these materials are more along the lines of a rubber/latex type covering, the '949 patent is more akin to the rubberized cover we see today on metal bats.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,039, issued Mar. 14, 1977 to Yerke, entitled Permanent Form-Fitting, Non-Slip Cover for Hand Gripping Portion of Baseball Bat, Golf Clubs and the Like, is clearly distinct from the subject invention, as it is directed to the application of a synthetic fiber material over the handle of the bat. This slip-resistant covering is applied using epoxy or some other similar type glue based material.
Accordingly, while each of the above patents possible achieve a better grip on a baseball bat, all require that some form of a base material be either wrapped around the handle or applied onto the handle in the form of a rubbery type, latex material. It would be desirable to overcome the limitations of these inventions by providing a grip coating for sports equipment and/or tools, and preferably for a wooden baseball bat, which does not first require the application of tapes or rubberized materials to the bat handle and instead simply consist of a thin layer of a slurry material having gripping particles mixed therein which when it adheres to the handle of the bat, creates a grip surface which is permanent and does not need to be reapplied by the player/user prior to each use.